IPL 2026: Delhi Capitals vs Punjab Kings, Match 35 - Who Said What?

Punjab Kings (PBKS) broke their own record for the highest successful run chase in T20 cricket as they hunted down the 265-run target set by the Delhi Capitals (DC) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday, April 25.

Axar Patel won the toss in the afternoon fixture and opted to bat first. Pathum Nissanka was dismissed in the third over by Arshdeep Singh. Shashank Singh had put down a catch just two balls earlier in the same over, giving KL Rahul a reprieve. The wicketkeeper-batter made the most of it as he slammed his sixth IPL century off just 47 balls.

Nitish Rana gave great support to Rahul with a 91-run knock off 44 balls. Their partnership yielded 220 runs in just 95 deliveries. Rahul didn't settle after reaching his century. He continued the carnage, finishing on 152 not out off just 67 balls with 16 fours and nine sixes.

In reply, Punjab Kings needed a quick start from their openers and the Prabhsimran Singh-Priyansh Arya duo delivered. The talented youngsters added 126 runs inside seven overs to set up the run chase wonderfully for the visitors.

Arya and Prabhsimran were dismissed in consecutive overs for 43 and 76, respectively. Cooper Connolly, Nehal Wadhera, and Shashank Singh chipped in with crucial cameos, but it was captain Shreyas Iyer who took his team home with a blistering knock of 71* off 36 balls. He did ride his luck a bit, getting dropped twice in two overs by Karun Nair. The right-handed batter capitalised on the reprieves and helped Punjab chase the target with six wickets and seven balls to spare.

Talking points:

1. Fielding lapses come back to haunt Delhi Capitals

The Delhi Capitals had gotten a reprieve when KL Rahul was dropped by Shashank Singh in the third over and he cashed in on it. Shreyas also received two lifelines, with Karun Nair putting down two high catches, one in the 15th and the other in the 16th over. The PBKS skipper was batting on 28 and 35 when he was dropped. Shreyas captialised and finished on 71* off 36 balls.

2. KL Rahul slams third-highest individual score in IPL history

KL Rahul smashed his sixth IPL century and it was a knock that had class written all over it. Battling testing weather conditions, Rahul made the PBKS bowlers look pedestrian with his brilliant array of strokeplay. He carried his bat, finishing on 152* off 67 deliveries with the help of 16 fours and nine sixes. This is the third-highest individual score in the IPL after Chris Gayle's 175* and Brendon McCullum's 158*.

3. Prabhsimran Singh rattles DC bowlers

Prabhsimran Singh showed once again why he is one of the most highly-rated ball-strikers in T20 cricket at the moment. The 25-year-old slammed a fairly experienced DC bowling attack to all areas of the park. He even hit Mukesh Kumar for six fours in the last over of the power play. In the end, Prabhsimran was dismissed for 76 off 26 balls with the help of nine fours and five sixes.

Who said what

Axar Patel, Delhi Capitals captain:

Looking at the kind of wicket, if you don’t support your bowlers and keep giving away so many chances, then I feel we deserved to lose. That’s the main point. It was a good pitch and a small ground, so sixes were always going to be hit. However, when opportunities arise and you don’t take even one, you drop chances, as we did today. On a wicket like this, if you don’t back your bowlers, it becomes difficult. At the same time, we also need to look at our bowling unit. The way we bowled in the powerplay, the fast bowlers, the fielding, and the opportunities we missed were the main reasons. Because on a wicket like this, 264 was a very good score. If you look at the positives, we scored 264, which is a record score in the Indian Premier League. This shows that if luck goes your way a little and you take your catches, you can win two or three matches in a row. If you look at the matches we are losing, many were close games. That’s what I said at the toss as well, if we can grab the crucial moments, then two or three results could have gone our way and we could keep winning. But the key is that you have to seize those moments. It can’t keep happening that you come in every time and repeat the same mistakes. So I think we’ll go back, review it again, see what we can do, and where we can improve.

Shreyas Iyer, Punjab Kings captain:

I'm running out of words. First of all, it was scorching hot there to come out and field... We were presuming that the wicket would be turning. But there wasn't much turn to offer. The ball was holding a bit. Kudos to KL. In my mind, I was just saying that what get they get from here on, we just need to get one more run. He was improvising and playing beautiful shots. I just said if they can, we can too. We have chased around 220 or 225 with a few overs left. So the mindset was very similar - get as many runs as you can in the powerplay. Right now we just want to go and have fun as much as possible. It was three days of hard work - practising and playing in the heat.

KL Rahul, Player of the Match:

I was very pleased and very happy at the end of the first 20 overs. It's something that I have been working hard on behind the scenes. I was working with Abhishek Nayar to see where I am lacking and how I can catch up with the modern game. Just to step back a little bit and see where the T20 game has gone and see the demands. Watching the World Cup, watching the young guys come in and attack straightaway. I as an opener have the confidence to take a few balls and catch up later on but the modern day demand is that you have to get as many as you can in the powerplay. In T20 cricket, with the mindset I am in right now, there is no time in this format to say later. There is time in ODI cricket. That's something that I have watched and learn from the other guys. Yes there are certain matchups that aren't very favourable for me. That's when I will probably fall back to do boundary scoring than six hitting.